The year is 1927. Jack Lewis, as a young man, moves from Marion, Illinois to Bloomington during the “Railroad Era”, as a technical watchmaker, he became the contract employee for the Chicago and Alton Railroad shops. His original office was located on Center Street in downtown Bloomington. His “Official” Western Union clock, as well as many others throughout the United States, made self-corrections at noon and midnight every day. His advantage during the depression was his client base of mostly railroad employees. Most were required to carry accurate “Railroad” 16 sized pocket watches.

At the time, the entire Chicago and Alton Railroad facility was dependent upon three Western Union Clocks at the time, located in the train depot on West Washington Street, the “Roundhouse” on West Locust Street, and in Jack Lewis’ repair and service shop in downtown Bloomington. At one point, there were over 2,500 employees of the “Shops” that were required to have their watches synchronized to Jack Lewis’ shop clock.

As service to the Railroad continued to grow and become more important, Jack Lewis added other merchandise line,including the Ball “Trainmaster” pocket watch for those employees that wanted a finer watch than the standard railroad issue.

The business continued to grow during the Great Depression and was moved to the Illinois Hotel, located on Jefferson Street, across the street from Jack Lewis’ original location. Several other jewelers were located in downtown Bloomington at the time but did not survive the economic stress of the depression. Jack Lewis was eventually located off the lobby of the Illinois Hotel at the corner of Jefferson and Center Streets, where it remained a noted downtown Bloomington landmark for over sixty years. The store grew to feature diamonds, colored stones, fine jewelry, tabletops, and giftware. Many employees had over forty years tenure with the company by the early 80s.

When Jack Lewis first opened his door in 1927, four main concerns were to strive always to maintain honesty, integrity, service, and the greatest value possible for his customers' buying dollar. This same philosophy continues today with the daily direction of the company.

Due to changing demographics of downtown Bloomington, a second store was added in the Eastland Shopping Center in the spring of 1984. After ten years of operating two stores, the decision was made to consolidate the operation into a single new location as an anchor in the Eastland Square Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Eastland Drive and Veterans Parkway.

Celebrating eighty years in business, Jack Lewis, Inc. Fine Jewelers features one of Central Illinois’ largest collections of diamonds, fine jewelry, luxury watches, and colored stone jewelry. A full service laboratory for gemological identification as well as Insurance Documentation and evaluations are also featured. The Jack Lewis service department has always been an integral part of our business culture, including remount, design, and repair departments.

Jack Lewis Jewelry is proud of our reputation of providing quality service and dependability in McLean County over the past eighty years.

2003 - Current officers: John Wohlwend, President and CEO; John Carter, Executive Vice President.

1994 - Jack Lewis, Inc. Fine Jewelers moves into its current location at 1704 Eastland Drive, Bloomington.